March 15, 2024

It’s all downhill after fifty

Another way to look at things... / via A Thousand Shades of Gray

thebloggess.substack.com

Illustration of flower

/ about / ideas / now

A searchable collection of 6400+ personal websites’ about, ideas and now pages. Love the sample searches that inspire exploration and prompts to make more thorough web pages. / via Chuck Grimmett

aboutideasnow.com

about ideas now

March 14, 2024

Museum Worthy

Promo for the Association of Independent Commercial Producers that captures the frustration of art direction. / via sidebar

vimeo.com

Vincent Van Gogh actor paints apples

March 10, 2024

This is a thread about love

And how creativity should be valued, and sticking together — by Gary Taxali.

threads.net

A heart

Make better documents

A few paragraphs into this essay about enhancing messages in documents, Anil shares an animated gif from Joey Cherdarchuk that cleans up a table of data. It is mesmerizing like those videos of volunteer lawn trimming or deep car cleaning — I could watch them for hours.

anildash.com

Data table before and after design restraint

Statue of Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe

Billed as the world's largest, I would not drive 4 hours solely to see this statue, but I'd totally lop it on to a roadtrip that covered northeastern Ohio! / via Chris Martin

servantsofmary.org

A big ol statue of Mary

March 7, 2024

CDK Dancers “Somebody That I Used to Know”

I caught a clip of this on the socials and wanted to know more but it was an aggregate that didn't attribute. I scrolled on but was very happy to see the entire choreographed piece on Colossal.

thisiscolossal.com

CDK Dancers

March 6, 2024

How Comics Were Made

This Kickstarter campaign is for a book about the history of how comics are produced. I've always wondered about the entire process and this looks to be a tome that shares insight.

kickstarter.com

How Comics Were Made

How to Read Poetry

Matt Haughey shares his favorite YouTube video from 2023. It's 11 minutes of Andrew Bashford explaining new ways to approach and experience poetry and it’s well worth the time.

a.wholelottanothing.org

How to Read Poetry

Downpour, an app to make games

As developer v buckenham says of Downpour "Collage together images & text, link them up, then share online. It's really easy to use! No coding needed!" And if you don't know what game to make? It has tutorials and sample unfinished games to fiddle with.

v21.io

Downpour app screen mockup

The Process of Forevs

The latest lovely font from Oh No Type Co. Love seeing the process of creation in this blog post. The typeface has so many stylistic alternatives.

ohnotype.co

Forevs typeface samples

March 5, 2024

Walden Pond

A little paper zine that comes once a month in the mail full of a selection of the articles saved to Pocket. Lovely idea if you use Pocket (I'm more of the Instapaper sort). Either way, neat use of on demand production. / via Phil Gyford

waldenpond.press

Person holding printed zine

March 4, 2024

Canabalt

Ooo. I remember this game fondly. It's back in the browser! (Thanks Matt) Now I wanna see Robot Unicorn Attack make a comeback (hearing the Erasure song in that game was transcendent).

canabalt.com

A side scrolling run and jump game. Literally, that's all you do.

March 3, 2024

RsS iS dEaD LOL

Type in a Fediverse handle and this site will present a list of folks you follow and their respective RSS feeds. Lots of new paths to follow! / via Jeremy Keith

rss-is-dead.lol

FEEDS ALL AROUND

March 1, 2024

Kottke’s new digs

Jason Kottke updates the design of his site after a long spell and it's good. So much has been folded in neatly as he's added functionality over the recent years. My favorite part = the emoji tag links (right column end on desktop, footer in mobile)

kottke.org

Kottke circles

Mise En Page

Jean Jullien’s oversized sculptures with figures and books fill the atrium of a shopping mall in France. I wish they stuck around for a while longer — they're delightful. (Not that I have any plans to travel to France soon, but one can dream!)

thisiscolossal.com

Mise en Book

Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters

March 14 - Sept 8 Poster House, wonderful museum tucked between Flatiron and Chelsea, is exhibiting travel posters (including those sweet ones from TWA). I have no doubt this will be worth the visit (or free on Fridays). / hat tip to Thor

posterhouse.org

Posters for NYC

February 28, 2024

Focusmate

Find folks and schedule a 25, 50 or 75-minute session to work on your own individual project. Check in at the beginning and again at the end for accountability. Intrigued. / via a story Swissmiss shared

focusmate.com

Focusmate

February 27, 2024

The PICTO Collection at Micasa

If I was in Switzerland I would run to the store and pick up a few of these goods that feature pictograms by Josef Müller-Brockmann for SBB / via UnderConsideration

micasa.ch

Red tote with white arrow design

Typeset in the Future

A collection of visual essays exploring type in sci-fi films (it's probably Eurostile) by Dave Addey. He dives deep and shares receipts. Also available in book form. / via Yewknee

typesetinthefuture.com

Still from the movie Moon where an person runs on a treadmill

February 22, 2024

Neko Atsume 2

I was super into Neko Atsume 1 for a good chunk of time. It was a sweet spot in the cursory world of mobile phone games that encouraged daily check-ins, but not spending all your time there. Plus also, kitties! / thanks MetaFilter

nekoatsume.com

Neko Atsume 2

February 21, 2024

Robin Rendle’s mini manifesto

Right there on the homepage is a stack of thoughts to describe what the site is. Robin adds a bit of backstory in this post. Dig this lots and desperately need to create a manifest of my own. Reminds me of Fictive Kin's /purpose.

robinrendle.com

Mini Manifesto

February 20, 2024

Sample Breakdown: Gotye

Wow. I had no idea Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know is largely comprised of samples. This YouTube channel helps visualize the complexity in such a visual way. Subscribed!

youtu.be

Sample waveforms rearranged

February 19, 2024

MusicHarbor

Discovery app for new music releases, music videos, events, and news from your favorite artists and record labels by Marcos Tanaka. Because finding new releases on Apple Music and Spotify is abysmal. / thanks for the rec to Paul Carroll!

marcosatanaka.com

MusicHarbour app screenshots

Nothing You Love Is Lost

A short story about love, loss and letting go by John P. Weiss, who uses photos to inspire writing. / via Dave Rogers

johnpweiss.com

Black and white photo of two folks at a cafe table outside

A wedding album 62 years in the making

Gastón Abril Rotger embarked on a long project to take tiny photo samples of his mother-in-law's wedding, scan and restore them to be printed large. 62 years after the wedding, Pirucha received her album and the visual storytelling of the moment is touching. So much that the story has been featured on television a few times.

gastonabril.com.ar

Piru’s gift

February 17, 2024

Designed by Apple

It's over 10 years old, but this animation about design and intention holds up well.

youtu.be

Animated dots and lines

February 14, 2024

Mediocre ideas, showing up, and persistence.

Chris Coyier just posted a list with 43 items and this nugget was in there. I agree with this simple advice, as showing up for mediocre ideas puts them in front of others to become better. And persistence? A big part of that (for me) is to not spend all my time consuming.

chriscoyier.net

Chris Coyier's head with a ball cap on a black background

Beta Love

20 years ago this Valentine's Day a journaled about this mix of love songs. I made Spotify and Apple Music playlists today to rekindle the moment.

chrisglass.com

Beta Love mix CD

Joseph’s Machines, Valentine edition

Kinetic artist Joseph Herscher invents useless machines, unless that use is to be delightful and entertaining, in which he succeeds! (also on Youtube)

instagram.com

Valentine machine

February 12, 2024

17 Minutes of Charles Schulz Drawing Peanuts 

I remember seeing parts of this as a kid and being completely enamored. The feeling remains.

youtu.be

Charles Shultz at a drawing desk

February 10, 2024

Well-Tempered Traveler

Google's summation of weather across regions and the year. / via Brain Feeney

google.com

Weather chart

February 9, 2024

A New Sports Tradition for Dads & Daughters

Cetaphil taps into the Taylor/Travis zeitgeist and makes a winning commercial.

youtu.be

Daughter looking up at father out of frame in television commercial referencing Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce

February 6, 2024

Apple Vision Pro Immersive Demo, at home

I highly recommend scheduling a demo at the Apple Store for the Apple Vision Pro. It's 30 minutes with about 10 for setup and the rest for experiencing the headset. It ends with a superfun immersive video montage. It's available at home buried in the Apple TV+ store

reddit.com

Apple Vision Pro promo shot

Some good newsletters

Luke Harris shares a list of newsletters he subscribes to by RSS (I need to figure this out as my email box is silly). I know about half of these but the other half are new to me.

lkhrs.com

A graphical cactus

February 5, 2024

Hundreds of Beavers

I randomly see something come across my feeds and then realize there is a screening tonight in Cincinnati with filmmakers and beavers at the showing and man I wish I could go. Filing away to watch this black and white slapstick movie in the future!

hundredsofbeavers.com

Two persons in bunny outfits frame in black and white film

February 4, 2024

None of the music was prerecorded on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

Johnny Costa attended every taping, providing live piano accompaniment just off camera with percussionist Bobby Rawsthorne and bassist Carl McVicker. Jazz pianist and composer Charles Cornell shares some history.

openculture.com

person playing piano from above

February 2, 2024

Visit the Eames Archives

Scheduled, guided tours of the collection in Richmond, California. Bucketlited / via Scott Boms’ Through Lines

eamesinstitute.org

Eames Institute

Rukh typeface

Sometimes you see type and just want to make some designs. This is one of those typefaces. Lovely work by Mohammed Samad and Bouk Ra.

itsnicethat.com

Rukh typeface

February 1, 2024

Untitled Folder Wallet Final.Final.2

I think I first learned of Nik Bentel on Colossal. But it was this feature of the brand refresh on Under Consideration that brought me back to the site. I do love some Optima. And this wallet makes me smile. The name alone!

nikolasbentelstudio.com

Untitled Folder wallet

January 31, 2024

February as a month of possibility

"It’s the shortest month, so it should be the easiest for a daily 'practice and suck less' challenge." says Austin Kleon. He even made a PDF calendar you can print out to inspire said feat. I think I might try to practice walking.

austinkleon.com

February 2024 calendar to inspire daily practice

Email Authentication

I recently came across an email that I needed to set up authentication for a domain and for the life of me I can't find it now. But I remember thinking, I will loop back right after I learn how to do this. Chris Shiflett shares an approach.

shiflett.org

January 30, 2024

Project Tapestry

I have no idea if I need this app in my life, but it's Icon Factory. It'll be fun and pretty and very likely awesome. Backed. More deets on their blog post.

kickstarter.com

Wireframe of app

Recapturing early-internet whimsy with HTML

Digging the six projects that MIT links in this piece about personal, whimsical and artistic web sites and explorations. Saving to savor after work!

technologyreview.com

Digital garden

January 28, 2024

How It’s Made: LEGO Sets

Did some surfing to learn more about how LEGO is made and this video was the best I’ve seen thus far. I could watch a miniseries on this topic, from ideation to execution.

youtu.be

Lego factory

January 26, 2024

A unified theory of fucks

(Admission, I try not to swear on this site. I don't know why.) But this short essay by Mandy Brown is worthy of it.

aworkinglibrary.com

A unified theory of fucks

Photographers in Commercials

Like Seth, I'm enjoying Noah Kalina’s new video series that spans the gamuts. In this case, reactions to photographer portrayals in commercials. I think this is what the kids call cozy.

sethw.com

Noah Kalina video podcast

Bury Me in the Highlands

Let's say you make sourdough and give the loaves away but wanted to put them in a bag with a stamp and your brother was a type designer... (Swipe to see said stamp in context). Gorgeous.

instagram.com

Bury Me in the Highlands

January 25, 2024

Porkbun’s awesomeness page

Tucked away in their footer is a link under about us that simply reads awesomeness. Well that's delightful! / thanks Erik!

porkbun.com

Illustrations of pigs with domain extensions

New Deal Maps

Every dot the site of a New Deal project. Could be art, facilities, education, agriculture, infrastructure, parks or more. Oodles in my hometown alone. / via Ethan Marcotte

livingnewdeal.org

New Deal map of projects in CIncinnati, Ohio

January 24, 2024

Very Robin

Robin Mientjes has a new website and it is delightful.

veryrobin.me

Pixelated homepage design featuring a robin in their nest with eggs as navigation

Linking

Jeremy Keith serves up a handful of links to places with oodles more links, many new to me.. As Cassidy (another personal site also new to me) writes, "I miss human curation" — Sames. It's excellent to find new places to wander.

adactio.com

Abstract image

NY Times on menu design trends

Dig everything about this sort of reporting. Now make a pretty list of all Biden’s accomplishments NY Times! (gift link)

nytimes.com

menus

January 23, 2024

Plantega and other vegan tidbits

I've been watching You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment (wiki) on Netflix and feeling v. motivated to increase plant based foods, including things featured in the series like Mioyoko’s cheese, Prime Roots deli classics and this Plantega bodega in New York.

eatplantega.com

Vegan sandwich

January 11, 2024

World Weather Map

This would be a lovely screensaver any screen, including a television. Mesmerizing in scale.

map.worldweatheronline.com

World weather map with temperate gradients

January 10, 2024

Mod West Ranch

I've had this tab open long enough that I know I need to save it and move on. I already have oodles of places to consider in Palm Springs, but oh my word, THIS ONE! It could be a retreat!

uncrate.com

Palm Springs pool

Roger + Chris Fifth Wheel Trailer Renovation

Not only do these fellas make fine couches, they renovate homes and in this case, a fifth wheel trailer. I've long dreamed of life on the road and that notion has faded a little, but seeing their transformation makes me re-think the possibility. (Also, it's for sale!)

rogerandchris.com

A very well appointed RV trailer

January 8, 2024

Criterion 2023 Room Tone

I remember enjoying the first edition of these quiet moments to test the camera in 2020, and they're just as delightful this time around. I just did a 30 second test in my office and have decided I would benefit from makeup and better lighting. / via Yewknee

criterion.com

Color checker for video production

The Present

Dig this annual clock that takes an entire year to complete as a way to connect more emotionally with time. The gradient version represents seasons. There are other versions for a single day and moon cycles.

thepresent.is

Colorful clock with one hand that shows a year

January 5, 2024

BLAG’s top articles from 2023

I recently subscribed to BLAG’s print mag and it is a beauty to hold. Here’s a sampling of things they share. So much to savor!

bl.ag

10 images from BLAG articles